Do you ever suspect that some threads are planted.

[notacooldad]

Sometimes I wonder why some posts have been posted and the real reason behind them.
Some may seem fairly innocuous but I often wonder if they are posted to gauge public reaction to things.
Eg posts like "my mum wants to meet up for a cup of tea but I think this is a bad idea.whst do you think?" Everyone piles in with "your mum is an idiot, you did the right thing to day no" type answers.
Maybe I've not explained myself well and have been listening to two many conspiracy theory podcasts!

You might not come here for policy temperature taking but it would be quite effective to come and whip up a bit of social outrage so you didn't have to bother clarifying lock down rules, for example. Say you didn't want to be known as an authoritarian government but wanted people to do a thing.

I think there are a lot of threads started by people with a definite political agenda.

During the Brexit campaign these were really obvious. And “the poster” was often posting 24/7 which would suggest to me that they were more than one person.

I think we are seeing similar on some of the Covid threads. Talk up the risks (we are all going to DIE!), relentless criticism of the government’s handling of it - (going far beyond the criticism coming from opposition parties) and all of those “I want to look out of the window. Am I allowed?” threads. Style and Beauty is full of product plugs. . Some of the threads on trans issues on the feminism sites are deliberately goady (but these seem to be policed quite robustly) and many of the education threads are plugs for particular schools.

But that is the risk of anonymous social media. You do not know who you are talking to.

Definitely.

What's the real reason for this thread?
I read a thread about someone falling out with a friend. Everyone said she had done the right thing. I thought why would you need to ask that?
There's been a lot of posts recently that you would have to be a bit daft to ask tbh.
I often thought about the style and beauty page especially with the Big hair appliance the other year. Everyone raved about it and it seemed to good to be true. It seems a lot of people thought the same and facebook market place was full of them for a while!!😂😂😂

Style & Beauty product placement. Hush and Saltwater Sandals? Bravissimo possibly. Definitely Figleaves about 2 years ago, although they've gone quiet now. Any more? Did Zoflora start out as product placement? I haven't been here long enough to know how that happened.

Yes I do. Especially the "AIBU to do X during lockdown" again and again. As someone said upthread, sounds like the temperature of public opinion is being taken regularly.

Anything that ignites the formula/breastfeeding debate I’m sure is often planted by people working for formula companies. ‘I’ve breastfed for 3 years, I’ve hated every second of it, why didn’t someone tell me how awful it is?’ and ‘I was feeding my baby a bottle in a cafe and someone came up a spat in my face’ type things (slight exaggeration but not far off). There is one poster who jumps on nearly every thread to do with breastfeeding /infant feeding to insist that children over 1 should be fed magical toddler formula milk at the cost of £10 per tub be a it’s so perfectly formulated for them, rather than cows milk or just water. I’m sure they work for Nestle or something.

I thought all the threads on mumsnet were ‘planted’ . None of them arrive here by themself so to speak.

How long have you been on MN OP?
This has been so since time immemorial.
Particularly around election times, and other events where people want to nudge opinion.
Look up astroturfing.

Sometimes you see a thread with a slightly unusual subject title and within a short time another appears about the same subject. Possibly one inspired the other, but I have wondered if it's a case of people being set an assignment to get opinions (maybe at uni?) and them using MN as a platform to do that.

Re the government posting: this definitely happened in the past when Cummings was working with Gove in education, then again when Cummings was in charge of Brexit so now Cummings is in charge again we shouldn’t be surprised. Journalists post here too to gauge opinion or stir up discussion.

Given that certain elements of the media are heavily pushing for schools to re-open I wouldn’t be surprised if they are here doing a bit of nudging. They are trying to put May in people’s heads.

Teresa May?

How long have you been on MN OP?
Since around 2007 I think.
I have always known about trolls and have often rolled my eyes at some of the stuff in S and B but recently there have been so many ridiculous post around the Covid 19 that I cant believe do many people are stupid with their comments about what their neighbours are doing and who should they report it to and all the 'what about' comments. ' 'what if I call round to see my mum who hasnt been out for a year'' what if I go and sit in my friends garden, its quite big' and the lije( ok I've exaggerated but you hopefully get my jist)

Given that certain elements of the media are heavily pushing for schools to re-open I wouldn’t be surprised if they are here doing a bit of nudging. They are trying to put May in people’s heads.

Completely agree.

Yes I definitely think some are

I'm back again to add that I'm starting to think that every post mentioning the words end of May and back to normality is posted by an idiot/stooge.

I certainly think some of those with a likely political agenda have been on the recent past.

If you were in charge of policy, why wouldn’t you go onto large forums like this to gauge or change public opinion?

Would you object if your children went back to school would definitely either be planted or at least checked out. Why wouldn’t it be?

Listening to the science includes psychology.

You wouidn't choose this forum, because it's so utterly out of step with the majority (shown by every election/referendum).

So it might be useful after all, in a 'do what's condemned here' sort of way. What's the opposite of bellwether?

Well ... yes. Particularly in the case of 'parenting' issues such as school openings at the moment.

Fastest (and free-est) way to gauge opinion of a large parent-heavy population . 'Specially since we're, historically, the stroppy, vocal ones, too.

I've been kicking around on here long enough to remember potential PM's doing webchats pre-election and threads kicking off into major news stories. It's openly know that journos pull threads and publish them. It only surprises me that people still think this is a cosy place with an anonymous bunch of mates!

👋 Boris! I hope you’re feeling better now.

I mean, what else is he going to do stuck on bed rest and in preparation for his new arrival?

Of course they are. Let's face it, look at how many times are posts from MN quoted in newspapers or on Jeremy Vine.

Yes agreed OP.
To those saying MN is not representative, they won't only be posting on here. And yes I too am very suspicious of the May and schools threads.
Saltwater sandals are ugly, but were being pushed loads in style and beauty. Also saw other really ugly clothes being gushed over. I simply don't think that many people on MN have that bad taste.

I always think the ones that give a little anecdote and then say “please tell me your embarrassing moments...” or similar are planted.

Also, thinking that “do you think schools should go back” posts are planted and/or read by policy makers, I make sure I contribute as it feels like getting my voice heard!